"Featured" Tagged Sermons (Page 11)
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What Was Right in Their Eyes
To be frank, the book of Judges is one of the most discouraging books in the Bible. If you’re caught up with our Bible reading plan, you’ll finish Judges this Saturday, and you’ll probably be relieved in some ways. There’s a lot of evil in this book. If you didn’t know how things were going to go, you probably began this book with a bit of hopefulness. After years of waiting, God’s people had finally entered the land of Canaan…
The Walls Came Tumbling Down
After hundreds and hundreds of years and in spite of recent disappointments, the moment has come for God to lead Israel into Canaan, the land that he’d promised generations earlier to Abraham. Jericho stood before them, though, fully intent on resisting Israel’s attempts to take the city. Will it work? Will Israel succeed, or will they doubt God as their parents had done a few decades earlier? This is a story that has fascinated people for thousands of years. It’s…
The Kindness and Severity of God
Is God kind or severe? Does he act out of love or justice? Is he patient or wrathful? Our congregational reading plan had us beginning with Deuteronomy on Thursday, and if we haven’t read the Old Testament in awhile, we’re probably a bit overwhelmed with how God presents himself to the Israelites. In fact, if I may say so, sometimes God seems a little harsh and demanding. We’re going to wrestle with this theme Sunday morning, considering how God is…
Difficult Conversations – Restoring a Fellow Christian
Our goal as a church is to support one another in our walk with Christ. We want one day to hear these words from Jesus, “Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” and nothing will ever be sweeter. But, of course, the Christian life isn’t easy, and we need a little help along the way. Sometimes that help comes in the form of an encouraging talk from a brother or sister, or even perhaps…
The Bible Jesus Read
A few months ago a famous, extremely influential megachurch pastor preached a sermon in which he said Christians needed to “unhitch from the Old Testament.” He’s been roundly criticized by people all over the world, including quite a few in the Church of Christ. Though most of us wouldn’t say what he said out loud, we might’ve thought it. The Old Testament, to put it bluntly, makes us uncomfortable. Bad things happen, sometimes with God’s approval, it seems, and at…
But as for You . . .
Timothy was probably discouraged by the demands of his ministry and needed a pick-me-up from his mentor, Paul. The apostle wanted him to do effective work, of course, so he wrote him a short letter to lift his spirits. It’s pretty amazing how much of this letter is good advice for all of us. Near the end of the letter, Paul gives some quick hitters. It’s almost like Timothy needed his older mentor to sum it all up for him.…
A Rule of Life: Habits, Not Resolutions
“We become what we repeatedly do”–Sean Covey. Every year as the calendar flips, many of us get caught up in the dream of change, and in so many ways this is a beautiful thing. Justin Earley writes, “There is common grace in a calendar that regularly presents us with opportunities to reconsider how we live. The flurry of resolutions made this time of year reminds us that we really do long to be made new.” But true renewal is only…
He Was Called Jesus
Jesus’ birth narratives are fascinating, and they’re loaded with powerful statements about who Jesus was and what he came to do. Unfortunately, these important teachings are sometimes obscured by the Christmas season as the birth of Jesus is romanticized and sanitized (or ignored). Of all the gospel writers, Luke includes the most historical details about Jesus’ birth, and Sunday we’re going to study and reflect on his version of this beautiful story. Last week we studied his account of John…
A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
The way Luke chooses to begin this chapter is fascinating . . . he sets the stage by listing the most powerful people in the world, starting with the Emperor of Rome and narrowing in on the local secular and religious leaders. And then he takes us to John, an eccentric character who receives God’s word in the wilderness. Tiberius reigns in Rome, but Luke wants us to see what God is doing in the backwater region of Judea: he’s…
On These Two Commandments
This is the last of the sermons I’ll preach in 2018 on the theme for the year: Love God. Love People. Change the World. I will try to wrap it up, summarizing the theme as we end the year and look toward a new one. There’s plenty of evidence around us that loving God and the people he created will need to be a continual emphasis of Christians everywhere. We’re surrounded by hate and violence and political division. What the…
Lights in the World
On each month’s first Sunday morning in 2018, we’ve emphasized our theme: Love God. Love People. Change the World. As we near the end of the year I’m using a couple of these Sunday morning sermons to emphasize the last part of that theme: Change the World. God put us here to make a difference, not for us just to meet weekly and talk about how bad the world is, but for us to worship so that we might be…